Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .
After. Nothing is ever the same.
Looking for Alaska by John Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I enjoyed the real talk and tension that was depicted in the characters and surrounding events in this coming-of-age type story. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories of introspection and aren’t offended by the raw emotion of juvenile angst, profanity, rebellion, drugs, and sexual explicitness, and to those who don’t always need to have complete closure with moral consequence.
John Green made it easy to get inside each character’s head in a relatable way. The tone was quite reflective of juvenile drama and expression and there’s no restraint. I appreciated the casual lingo that fit into the flow of events and lifestyle of the characters. Code words, nicknames, and hangout spots were all believably told from a first-person narrative within the era in which they were framed. Emotions didn’t feel forced. That can be a challenge for authors and John Green, being older than the character and male, was able to articulate the character’s feelings quite accurately.
MY FAVORITE LINES:
“So I walked up back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that it people were rain, I was a drizzle and she was a hurricane.” -John Green
